JUNETEENTH
June 19, 2025
by Thomas P. Bonacci, C.P.

The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act
Signed into law on June 17, 2021,
officially recognizing June 19th as a holiday.

The Juneteenth holiday, observed annually on June 19,
commemorates the end of slavery in the United States on June 19, 1865

You know, I was proud to have made Juneteenth a federal holiday. And I’m grateful to the members of Congress who are here today who helped make it possible. I’m not going to start to name them, because I’ll miss somebody.

But it wasn’t just a symbolic gesture. It was a statement of fact. It was about a statement of faith. It was testimony of a testament to the resilience of generations of Black Americans who kept their eyes set on the nation’s North Star. That North Star was the idea that we’re all created equal in the image of God and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. 

While we’ve never lived up to it, we’ve never fully walked away from it either. That’s because of you and generations before you who led the march from slavery to freedom toward more than a perfect union. 

But let’s be clear: There are old ghosts in new garments trying to take us back — taking away your freedoms; making it harder for Black people to vote or have your vote counted; closing doors of opportunity; attacking the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion; if you can believe it, banning books about Black experiences in America; trying to erase and rewrite history. 

Our history is not just about the past, it’s about our present and our future. It’s whether that future is a future for all of us, not just for some of us.

Folks, Black history is American history. …

President Joe Biden
June 10, 2024

The work of realizing and building the Beloved Community continues. 
The Interfaith Peace Project is dedicated and humbly committed to this effort.